DENVER (KDVR) — A World War II U.S. Army veteran who enlisted after the Dec. 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor received a very special gift Monday from a friend from another generation.  

Christmas gifts come in all shapes and sizes. Aurora resident Greg Kyle is making a special Christmas gift for a friend. It’s not very big in size, and it’s just made out of tin. But the meaning is pure as gold.

“This is a WWII dog tag that I am making for my friend Howard Berger,” Kyle said.

Kyle is using an original WWII dog tag machine located at Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum. “This is an exact copy of what he received during World War II but lost,” Kyle said.

It needs to be authentic, for the person receiving the gift is as authentic as they come. That would be Howard Berger, World War II veteran who served in General Patton’s 3rd Army.

“I wanted to present these to Howard Berger, his lost dog tags, his reproduction dog tags today, because it is a special day,” Kyle said. It’s a gift from the heart to say thank you.

The tags have no monetary value, just one way for one generation to say to the other, “we remember.”

“Well, I’m very thrilled to have them, because it brings back that memory when I first joined the service. I love those memories of the military, my military life,” Berger said.